I am bracing myself for a bad season so that we can get a high lottery pick. Hopefully, we don’t get bad luck and end up with a lower pick that we deserve. And although this team will lose many games, this team will be much more enjoyable to watch than previous seasons.

Yes the Nets era is back when Air Sly will fly around the arena with ducktape hanging in certain spots and the bench mob will return.

LOL.

I am anticipating a bad year but still have hope that this team can be competitive in most of the games.

22-26 sounds about right. Maybe a bit more if Lee and Lopez mature better than people expect them to

I think this team can be in the same position it was last year. Super young team that was in the playoff hunt till the final weeks.

LOL even Al had to comment on the stupidity of those predicting 40 wins from this team

I predict 18-20 wins at best.

I’m predicting Yi for MIP and Opie for COY. Let’s be optimistic.

If Harris becomes more Iverson and less Kidd this should be about right.

I see in a range of 17-21 wins. I can see Devin getting injured and out do like 3 weeks in time when we can beat lesser teams. I see The season being bad with bright spot from put young players such as Lopez, Lee, and possibly Yi stepping up. However there will be growing pains and the perhaps the injury bug will invade the swamp.

I’d say that’s about right, on the low side. If Devin and Brook play at all-star levels (one already does), and we get a decent showing by Lee (14 ppg?; he did hit about 40% of his 3’s), then those are three good players to build off of.

We Suck. Thanks Mr. Ratner.

We’ll get to 30. But thats about it.

I see this team at around 30 wins. I certainly see how the team could be stuck at 20 wins, but I could also see them surprise and push their win record into the mid to upper 30s. Really, what is the difference between this Nets team and the Philly team of a couple years back that surprised everyone and made the playoffs? Our young talent (Lopez, Lee, CDR, TWill) is better than theirs was (Dalembert, Young, Lou Williams, Green) our point guard is better than theirs was (D.Harris vs Andre Miller) and I think between Harris and Lopez, we will prove to have a more reliable go to guy than Iguodala. Both teams were missing a proven power forward, but I’d say Yi can be at least what Young/Evans did for Philly. The big difference is that this year the East is much deeper than it was then, so a playoff push would seem to be far fetched. But I’d take this Nets team over that Philly team.

Who knows? NO ONE can know if Yi becomes Bargnani, if Lee becomes Harris, if Harris becomes Iverson (and I hope he does), if Lopez becomes Brad Daugherty.
Not to mention Terrence Williams or CDR. And Rafer Alston is not a bad player to have on your team.

Last year, the story was the Nets offense would suck, that other than Carter, no one had averaged double figures for their career…Harris’ career average was 9.4 ppg when he joined the Nets. Well, offense wasn’t a problem.

Key work is INJURY. If we are free of any major injuries to DH, BLO, C.LEE and Yi, we could go for 30 but we’ll crash if DH is injured. That’s for sure.

im okey with 22-26, we will get top 5 draft pick and hopefully sign some star free agent, 2010 is where we shine

if Devin Harris get injured.. we still have a lot of potential players to fill the hole.

point guards
Devin Harris
Rafter Alston
Kenyon Doling
CDR

Small Guards
Courtney Lee
CDR
T. Williams
KD

Small Forwards
T Williams
Jarvis Hays
Bobby Simmons
Trenton Hassell
Eduardo Najera
Courtney Lee

Power Forwards
Yi Jianlian
Sean Williams
Eduardo Najera
Tony Battie

Centers
Brook Lopez
Josh Boone
Sean Williams
Tony Battie
Yi Jianlian (if Brook gets injured) we hope not.

we are very much cover at all positions..
I hope Harris develop a more J. Kidd approach than AI.. we need some PG that can pass and score, defend and run. (pretty much asking for Lebron to be a PG here. hahah)

Lopez is by far our most indispensible player. We can still function well enough with Alston or Dooling subbing for Harris. If Lopez goes down, we have no proven rebounder or interior precense on the entire roster.

nets won’t win more than 29 games until they get a legit PF

I am curious to see what everyone thinks the average nightly attendance at Izod will look like. I would put the over/under at 7,000 fans per game with at least 1 sub 5000 fan game.

Tank it this season and get a high lotto pick…I don’t mind seeing the nets suck this season and getting another piece of the puzzle for next year considering they’ve been bad more then good since i’ve been a fan. I trust rod thorn and kiki know what they are doing. Before we had rod the nets where a joke. Now they are a respected team just because of him. 22 games is fine with me. GO NETS!

If you want to be a player in 2010, you have to show enough progress, enough potential. If you don’t, the fact that you have more cap space than anyone else (and right now that’s the situation) means little. The fact that the team has two draft picks in a good draft helps as well.

But the team’s ownership situation and the fate of Brooklyn matter more than anything else. I am told that Prokhorov’s interest is very, very real. So is Viola’s, according to reports. If those things are unsettled, it doesnt matter much.

And I think the Nets were on track to do a lot better ;ast season til injuries hit. They were 18-18 at the time of hte first injury, Yi’s.

put hayes on sf instead of simmons

Can I ask my fellow nets fans something? Is it worth doing what the Spurs did and tank the season to get the top pick. Is it really worth it. If by some miracle we got the top pick is Wall, Favors, Davis, or Motiejunas really worth it to tank on purpose. What would you rather have? A competitive team or a team just playing the young guys the majority of minutes and lose.

at TateGeorge:

“I am curious to see what everyone thinks the average nightly attendance at Izod will look like. I would put the over/under at 7,000 fans per game with at least 1 sub 5000 fan game.”

There should not be more than 2-3 thousand a night although i’m sure there will be more like 12-13 thousand like usual due to LOYALTY from New Jersey Nets fans. Ratner and Yormark have done everything but literally spit on our faces on the way in the door and the only reason I plan to be there is because I want to see my team pay in the Meadowlands while they are still there. But there is absolutely no reason other than Brook Lopez to go and watch this garbage until Ratner and Yormark are gone.

Netsdaily/Nets Income,

The second link on this post is a year old one (about the camp) unless you purposely posted it.

I know that I’m going to be subject to a lot of criticism, but I just wanted to throw out an idea. Not saying that we should make this move, but just throwing out an idea. Nate Robinson has still not signed, and it looks as if no team really has any interest in him. Let me be the first to remind you that Nate is still very young, is very good on the offensive end, can be had for cheap, and will get more fans into the arena on a nightly basis. If we could offer Nate a 1 or 2 year contract for about $5 million or so per year, would you sign him? I know that Nate has some defensive and character issues and that he is erratic, but do the positives outweigh the negatives so much that we sign him aboard? I think it should at the very least be considered.

Jason,

Why we need Nate when we’ve Harris, Dooling,and Alston plus CDR and T-Will. Nate doesn’t defend. Yes, he can score but cannot defend anybody. He has a heart though.

I mean bug heart.

Crap,

BIG HEART :)

Think Sacramento would be remotely interested in Bobby Simmons for Kenny Thomas and Donte Green?

Headline of the NY Post tomorrow:

NATE ROBINSON HAS BUG HEART!

@ Tony

If Nate comes, it will be for a 6th man position which he has been accustomed for his whole career thus far. Harris will be the starter, no questions asked. I’m still not convinced that Dooling will be as effective this year. We trade Dooling and Alston for picks/other expiring contracts to a contender. Dooling and Alston are nice pieces and will generate interest from a lot of contending teams. Alston and Dooling are not in our long term plans anyways. That way, we can sign Robinson to back up Harris and play at the 2 a little bit, and our roster is shorter by a man.

Jason,

If Nets plan for 2010 is to attract a top FA, then Nets needs to retain some good veterans. We need a mix of vets and young players. So I don’t think Nets will trade both Dooling and Alston.

@Trenton,

Very funny…..

I wouldn’t mind Nate Robinson off the bench but guess what: WE HAVE NO MONEY!!!

I could care less about win totals. Here is what I want to see

Harris- the ability to adjust to the defenses keying in on him, better shot selection, focus on making teammates better, and playing aggressive defense. Be a leader.

Lopez- improved post play, solid passing out of double teams, continue to improve on the boards and defense, and become a legit offensive threat in the paint and with the mid range jumper. 18ppg 9-10rpg 2blks should be a goal.

Lee- Continue to play stellar defense, come into camp with a good attitude and maintain it during the season despite the losing, and show that you are more than just a spot up shooter. I want to see this guy be a factor.

Yi- aggressive offense and defense. Finish strong in the post and on drives to the basket. Ability to adjust when bigger, stronger PFs are defending him and be assertive enough to take smaller defenders and abuse them. Take smart jump shots, and he should focus on getting 6+ FTAs per game. I like the improvement I have seen this summer so Yi needs to follow thru.

CDR- Improved defense, and pick up where he left off at season’s end. Get to the line, and become a legit scoring option off of the bench OR in the starting line up. I want to see him stroking the three with some confidence.

T-Will- Defense, defense, defense, and let the rest of the game come to him. I already am confident that this kid will make an impact on the game regardless of the poor jumpshot, which will improve over time. I want to see a focus all season long on upping his FT% from month to month.

Everyone else doesn’t matter. I care about these 6 guys, as they are our core. Good luck to them, its going to be rough.

I say worst case scenario, the Nets are the absolute worst team in the league, and sadly I can see this happening. Best case, a repeat of last year, which will have all you guys hating on Frank again anyway, LOL.

U people are unbelievable I hope you don’t call yourselves fans lol.

i say 28-35 wins

No thanks to Nate. I would not want him. he is a head case. It will be a long year. If we get 22-26 wins does that mean LF gets a 5 year extension?

I think 22-26 wins sounds about right, unless our young players suddenly become all stars.

I’d rather have Iverson than Nate, if only to buy Nets / Iverson Jersey as a reminder of some lean years and bad economy.

Forget Nate! Have you seen how many wins the Knicks have averaged the last five years with him being a major contributor? He won’t help us win. In addition, we are very deep at the guard position. I would much rather get a forward. Boozer would still be nice, however, he might put us out of reach to get a top five pick next year. I still say if the offense runs through Brook, we could surprise some people.

@JustinNJ

Nate won’t come to the Nets to be a major contributor. He’s coming in to be a energy/scoring player off the bench, behind the likes of Devin Harris and Brook Lopez. And you can’t blame the Knicks’ lack of success on Nate Robinson. I’m pretty sure that a guy by the name of Isiah Thomas deserves some of that blame. And also, we can sign Nate to a 2 year deal considering the economy by using the TE and MLE, assuming that RAT wouldn’t mind spending a couple of dollars. That way, it’s a low-risk high-reward type of deal.

I’m not saying that Nate is our savior, but considering his situation, the economy, and the available players out there, wouldn’t it make sense to buy a player when he is essentially “on sale” and hope that he has a positive impact on the team. He has a lot of heart, and give me one bench player on our team that can match the production that Nate will give us. While Nate brings energy off the bench, AI has character issues and would probably seeking more money.

Nate Robinson detractors must not have watched that kid play for the past 2 seasons.

Name for me one Knicks player that has played harder and with more heart than Nate Robinson.

You can’t

This Nate and David Lee talk (another post) is cumbersome. Not sure where it’s coming from – sorry, it just seems like its out of left field and has no chance of happening so why bother. I know it’s just a forum…

Great post about the youth core Mr. D B. i.e. Harris, Lee, CDR, TWill, Yi and Lopez. Too bad Boone and Swat are starting to look like journeymen/soon to be out of the league types. Hopefully they can step it up and join the youth core as bench guys.

I must say though that I do hope the predictions of 20 wins are wrong. I totally understand the reasoning. I’m just hoping and will be very curious to see if that the young core you just described can really come through big time and win more game than that.. It’s a stretch to think they could even achieve what they did last year (not much) but hey I want to be wildly optimistic until I see what unfolds.

You said Al commented on people’s “stupidity”. That’s kind of BS dude and kind of harsh. All he said was “that optimistic” for 30-40 wins. It’s not stupidity – well it is sports so…I think it’s OK to be stupidly optimistic. After all, it’s not rocket science.

I’m not interested in the draft as much; to me winning breeds winning. These players and coaches will not ‘tank’. They may suck, but they are going to try and win games – I hope. Unless they lose interest and have a lame duck coach (they do right?)- Which is very possible in the NBA. I will really hate it if they lose as much as predicted and the effort sucks, because to me that bodes badly for rebuilding as it becomes part of a losing mentality IMO which I can’t stand. My fingers are crossed; I’m looking for breakthroughs LOL, which will give me a thrill.

We are the worst NBA team financially. We will not be signing any free agents, this year, or next year either. But I think we could win 25 games this year. It is all about Brooklyn and five years from now. We need new ownership. We need some lottery luck, like last year getting Brook at ten. We need twin 27 year old blonde Victoria’s Secret models….whoops, that’s what I need, not what the team needs…The Team needs the new “YEE” to be for real. YEE and Hayes play better than expected, everybody else performs as expected, and we win 28-30. GO NETS!

I think that it’s not a good idea to judge how the team will end up right now. It can still be too early to tell what will go on. Let’s not forget that starting off on the right foot doesn’t guarantee a championship. Just because one team is playing as a defending champion doesn’t mean that they will go all the way again. Championships don’t come in November, they come in April.